Optically rotatory dielectric-guided parametric oscillators

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a parametric oscillator having reduced optical loss and increased interaction pathlength because it employs an optically rotatory liquid in a capillary tube of lower refractive index and of internal diameter of the order of one micrometer. The pumping beam is launched off-axis into the liquid to generate signal and idler beams such that all three beams at any given point propagate in intersecting directions and yet are guided along the capillary tube. Each beam is reflected at the capillary wall with at least a minimum angle Phi from the normal to the glass, such that sin Phi is greater than the ratio of the index of refraction of the glass to the index of refraction of the liquid.

nited State m a. pggggs R Wolff qutaqmirurt FORMIQQING XR 111972// i541 OPTICALLY RQTATQRY DlEL ECTRIC- l r m -R ma I i GUIDED PARAMETRIC OSCILLATORS Assistant Examiner- Darwin R. Hostetter Attorneys-R. J. Guenther and Arthur J. Torsiglieri [72] Inventor: Peter Adnlbed Wolff, Berkeley Heights.

. NJ. 1 I ABSTRACT [73] Asgigncc; B T k h Laborugortu'lmrpomgcd' There is disclosed a parametric oscillator having reduced Murray HilLNJ. m i optical loss and increased interaction pathlength because it I employs an optically rotatory liquid in a capillary tube of I22] Filed: July10,1970 j lower refractive index and of internal diameter of the order of one micrometer. The pumping beam is launched off-axis [211 A N 5-3- 539 v into the liquid to generate signal and idler beams such that all three beams at any given point propagate in intersecting [52) U5, CL 331/9 directions and yet are guided along the capillary tube. Each [5! 1 tnt. Cl. 7/00 bwm is mflcctcd at the capillary wall with at least a minimum [58] Field ofSearch.............................307I88.3; 331/96 tmslc from thc normal to the slam. such that sin is water y I than the ratio of the index of refraction of the glass to the 5 n f cfwd index ofrelraction ofthe liquid.

UNITED STATES PATENTS a a 3 Claims, 2 Drawlng Figures PARTIALLY nmrcnv: cumulus t3 roa SIGNAIL. MEANS LAUNCHING Q MEANS I SUCH AS MZW xxx/ v- ./J%'.%n L LENS r. PRISM OR LENS L Z/X7l/.// m/%/% a n zAnoN GRATING OPTtCALLV ROTATORY APPARATUS It LlQUlQ,lNDEX,n I L l wmoow Patented April 11, 1972 2925:; f p il v EQ: @2522 6 E3 F. RF 0/. m0 W WA P AT TOP/V5) OPllCALLi aoraroar nmtacrarc-cumsn PARAME'I'RIC oscrrutroas BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION this invention relates to optical frequency shifters, particularly optical parametric oscillators.

An optical parametric oscillator is an optical frequency shifter employing a low-loss nonlinear effect that enables differencc-frequency mixing of two supplied beams or enables 1o l launching mm PYOl/ldc lhc lm'cm generation of signal and idler beams from a single supplied pumping beam. The sum of the signal and idler frequencies is equal to the pump frequency for a so-called second order nonlinear effect.

function; or extracting means 15 could simply be a transparent window at the end of tube 12. It could also include ap propriate filters for removing residual pumping light from the useful output or for passing only one of the signal and idler The active element in a conventional optical oscillator is a 15 8 nonlinear optical crystal having dimensions typically about l I X l centimeters. Parametric oscillation is difficult to achieve for the following reasons:

1. Nonlinear crystals with low loss are rare. Particularly rare In addition, and in any desired combination with any of the foregoing alternatives, launching means 13 and extracting means I5 could include suitable reservoirs and mechanisms for flowing liquid 11 through tube 12.

are nonlinear crystals with large nonlinear coefficients; such liquid LL9s ulll2=.aaLo h. stisa!ly; c r= liquids crystals include lithium niobate (LiNbO,) and barium sodium niobate (Ba,NaNb,O,;). v 2. Theinteraction pathlengths are limited fundamentally by the divergence of a focused laser beam because of diffraction.

shgyYri A. Giordmaine et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,389,269 and a590.2rm sg genrn gmmea'apeeaattract. See also P. M. Rentiepis et al., Physical'Rein'evflftt'rs'flo, 792 (1966) and .l. A. Giordmaine et al., J. de Chemie Physique, I,

Beyond this, interaction pathlengths are further limited unless 215 Among the, I P a mlmio" of Nablm" in the interacting beams are phase-matched, so that power is extracted continuously from the pumping beam along the in .teraction path, and unless the interacting beams propagate collinearly.

water, illustratively a 3-molar solution, for which the nonlinear susceptibility x-l0" esp and the index of refraction n,=l.6.

For this liquid ll, the pumping source 14 is chosen to be an The problems of interaction overcome i 3 argon ion E 135:1 P 8 514-5 nanomclcrx using an appropriately selected dielectric guide to confine the radiation.

Nevertheless, guides of appropriate dimensions are difficult to fabricate from crystals; and, even if they could be, the losses would still be high.

SUMMARY or THE INVENTION ploying an optically rotatory liquid of relatively high refractive 40 index in capillary tubes of relatively low-index glass.

More specifically, since the nonlinear mixing properties of such liquids are such that the interacting traveling waves do not propagate collinearly on a local scale, the ratio of the index of refraction of the glass to the index of refraction of the 5 liquid must be at least as small as sin I where l is the minimum angle of propagation from the normal by any of the three waves at incidence on the glass.

According to a feature of my invention, the pumping beam is launched obliquely into the guide to enable the signal and 5 idler, which propagate in mutually intersecting directions to each other and to the pumping beam, to propagate at angles at least as large as (D from the normal to the glass. Such propagation enables the electric fields all to be nonparallel to each other to supply the nonlinear interaction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A more complete understanding of my invention may be gained from the following detailed description, taken together with the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partially pictorial and partially block diagram matic illustration of one embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a pictorial showing of an illustrative launching means for the embodiment of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT In the embodiment of FIG. I, the nonlinear interaction takes place in the optically rotatory liquid 11 contained in or 35 on the end windows therein. These coatings are selected to resonate the signal and idler, illustratively differing substantially in frequency.

In the operation of the embodiment of FIG. l, I compute a threshold for parametric oscillation of about 10 milliwatts of pumping power actually injected into liquid 11.

The achievement of this threshold of oscillation and of useful power output at the signal or idler frequency when the launched pumping power exceeds threshold depend upon the achievement of phase matching.

If the launched pumping beam in liquid ll bounces back and forth from the glass walls at the angle 8 from the normal, as indicated in FIG. 2, the signal and idler directions of propagation will automatically adjust themselves to those am 0 gles of propagation in the forward direction which will not only cause them to be internally reflected in the guide, but

also to be phase-matched to the pumping beam. All three waves will propagate in intersecting directions; and no pair of their electric fields will be parallel to each other. Both a signal 5 and an idler will extract energy from the pumping beam. The nonlinear polarization relationship for either the signal or idler wave, for example, at afnequency m, can be written in terms of :hg difference frequency, tin-u of the other two waves, as

o ows:

6o il e) sM- sh'x I K O MU].

where x is a nonlinear susceptibility,and E, and E, are fields at frequencies a, and 0,, respectively, (m -urea).

Illustratively, for the parameters disclosed above, the angle 4, for the pumping wave with respect to the normal to the glass wall ischosen tobe about ltwillbenoted thattheratiooftheindexofthe glastothe index of the liquid in the illustrative example is appreciably less than unity so that all three waves in the guide can make rather similar angles with resptxt to the normal to the glass flowed through the glass capillary tube 12 of lllustratively 2 70 wall, for example, about 70' and still have sin l greater than micrometers internal diameter and index ofrefraction "Fl .5, approximately.

Means I3 are provided for launching coherent light from a that ratio. The angle (P will nearly always be larger than 45'.

lnflfilthelsunchingmeanslfsinchrdesanendrurfnce 21fortubetZwhichscnesonlyrsarefleetorstthesigm-lmd pumping source 14 into the guide formed by liquid 11 and idler frequenciesandftmherincludesagmtingll upon which tubel2.Launctungmcaml3couldtskenuumberofaltmrnthelensnftxarresthepumpingbeunfiomwuree .The

grating 22 can be blazed in any desired manner so that for a given input angle 6 of the focused beam at grating 22, the first order diffracted light propagates at the angle Q, with respect to the normal to the tube wall.

the grating 22 is formed on a flat surface in a cutaway portion of the side wall ot'tube l2.

lt should be clear from the foregoing description that the described launching means and the arabinose liquid 11 employed is only one of many possible liquids within the generic class of optically rotatory liquids. it may be specifically noted generated and propagating in mutually intersecting directions in said liquid,- aaid liquid having a second index of refraction n,

. related to said first index according to nJn, s sin I? where Q is the uinimttm incidence angle of any of said waves with respect to the normal at said tube, and means coupled to said tube for supplying to said liquid oblique to the axis afraid tube one of said waves other than said wave to be generated to enable phase-matching ofnaid wave: and to provide the nonlinear interaction.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which the ratio mln, is less than unity, the means for supplying one of the waves to the liquid comprising means for launching said wave into said liquid at an angle with respect to the normal to the tube greater than about 45 and less than 90.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2 including means for resonating a generated wave in said liquid, the launching means comprising a grating disposed in a side wall of the tube.

t Q 0 t i 

1. An apparatus for parametrically generating an electromagnetic wave for utilization, comprising a dielectric capillary tube having a first index n1 of refraction, an optically rotatory liquid contained in said capillary tube, said liquid having a substantial nonlinear coefficient for three interacting singlefrequency electromagnetic waves including the wave to be generated and propagating in mutually intersecting directions in said liquid, said liquid having a second index of refraction n2 related to said first index according to n1/n2 < OR = sin Phi where Phi is the minimum incidence angle of any of said waves with respect to the normal at said tube, and means coupled to said tube for supplying to said liquid oblique to the axis of said tube one of said waves other than said wave to be generated to enable phase-matching of said waves and to provide the nonlinear interaction.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which the ratio n1/n2 is less than unity, the means for supplying one of the waves to the liquid comprising means for launching said wave into said liquid at an angle with respect to the normal to the tube greater than about 45* and less than 90*.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 2 including means for resonating a generated wave in said liquid, the launching means comprising a grating disposed in a side wall of the tube. 